Beyond Heroism
by LeSkuh
Summary: Things for Yuffie have been tough lately. Not only has she been forced to share the green room with Squall, but now she’s got to help him face his inner demons while struggling with her own. Just another day in the life of the Great Ninja Yuffie.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"No."

Aerith sighed as she placed a hand to her head.

"Leon, be reasonable."

"No." He repeated. Squall Leonhart sat firmly in his chair, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. A light breeze tousled his brown locks, but everything else about him was determined and unrelenting. He would not change his mind.

Or so he believed.

"_Leon_..." Aerith pleaded. He closed his eyes.

"I will not share a room with Yuffie." He turned his head to the side. "And that's final."

Aerith sighed again, this time in exasperation as she rested her chin in her arms. Why did Squall insist on being so damn stubborn? He was almost as stubborn as...

"Heeeeey guys!" A bright voice chirped. The two turned to see Yuffie scramble through the window of the green room. She smiled brightly at her two friends. "Miss me?"

"Hmph." Squall grunted. He stood up from his chair and walked towards the door, turning to Aerith before he left. She looked at him, her eyes begging him to agree, but he shook his head. "No, Aerith."

And then he was gone.

"Yeesh, what's wrong with him, huh? Seems like more of a prick than usual." Yuffie asked the flower girl, hands on her hips and a forever-smile on her face. Aerith lifted her head out of her hands and smiled warmly at the sixteen year old.

"Oh nothing. He'll be fine. I asked him to do something for me, but he won't." She shrugged it off, but deep down she was still thinking of how she was going to get him to agree with her. Yuffie eyed her for a moment, then she walked towards the table and sat down where Squall had just been.

"Really?" She asked. She smirked as she stuck her hands behind her head. "Usually he loves doing favors for you. Makes him feel needed and manly. He tends to refuse me though...probably because I only send him out to buy me tampons. Tampons don't make anyone feel manly."

"Oh, Yuffie." Aerith giggled, light and bubbly. Yuffie smiled.

"Anyway, I'm going to head to the first district. I hear Sora's back in town for a few days. I'm gonna teach him how to do a proper backflip." She tucked a few hairs behind her ear as she moved towards the window. "Anyway, I'll see you later Aerith!"

And Aerith was all alone again.

She stood up slowly, clucking her tongue as she picked two glasses off the table. She brushed a hand over the bed and sighed. How could she make him understand? She couldn't stay with Yuffie anymore. Not when Yuffie was acting so...so..._strange_.

Not that Yuffie had ever been _normal_, but this was bizarre even for her. Several times Aerith had awakened to find Yuffie, still as death, eyes glazed and bright as she stared out the window looking for something that wasn't there. When Aerith tried to talk to the smaller girl about it in the mornings, Yuffie would simply shrug it off and change the subject. Aerith was beginning to fear that Yuffie was going to do something foolish and that she wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

But Squall.

Squall was just what Yuffie needed at the moment. Someone to keep her safe and look after her. After all, Yuffie was sixteen now. She'd always been independent, but now she was always flying off on her own. Aerith could no longer keep a watchful eye on the youngest member of their small group. And it wasn't like she didn't trust Yuffie; she just...was concerned.

"Not that there's anything I can do at the moment." She mumbled to herself, "I'll just have to convince Squall...err..._Leon_ to take her in." She stuck her hands on her hips. "Besides, I've spent the past nine years babysitting. Its about time he take a turn." She said with a laugh.

With that she left the room.

---

"But you don't understand!"

He turned his back and kept walking.

"How many times do I have to tell you? No."

She stuck her hands on her hips and stomped towards him. She slid in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

"Will you just _listen _to me?" Aerith demanded, he sighed heavily and crossed his arms over his chest.

"There's nothing for you to say, Aerith. Yuffie stays with you. There's nothing you can say that could change my mind. Its bad enough that I have to put up with her constant chatter all day long; I enjoy my nights alone. I'm not going to give up my bed for some brat child. Now," He glared at her. "Move."

Without another word he pushed past her, heading towards the third district doors. Aerith clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.

"_Squall Leonhart!_" She screamed at his back. She watched as he physically froze in his tracks and whipped around sharply glaring daggers at the flower girl.

"It's LEON!" He roared, as he rushed towards her, a hand clenched tightly around her wrist. She whimpered softly, his grip too tight. He came to his senses a second later and dropped her arm. He took a step back, eyes fixated on the ground. "...Sorry."

Aerith shivered as she bit her bottom lip. She could feel tears in her eyes, but this was not the time to begin crying. She was doing this for Yuffie.

"Leon..." She began, trembling slightly. "...I..."

He waved a hand.

"No. It's all right. I should have listened." He still did not look her in the eye. "I would like to hear what you have to say."

She nodded and moved towards him. She lightly touched his arm; he flinched under her gentle touch, but let it go. He nodded to her and she silently accepted the apology. Squall had a way of speaking without words.

"I'm worried," She began, "about Yuffie..."

---

"Like this?" Sora breathed deep, before bending his knees. He pushed off the ground and felt the world spin around him as he flipped backwards. He touched down gently and let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey, not bad!" He heard Yuffie giggle from on top of a large box. She stood up and flipped off, landing neatly and perfectly in front of him. "Maybe you'll be as good as me someday. Doubtful, but ya never know." She teased. He frowned.

"Hey!"

She laughed as she ruffled his spiky brown hair.

"Aww, don't worry. No one else is as cool as me either." She grinned, "I'm one of a kind, special and just generally really awesome. I mean, they don't call me The Great Ninja Yuffie for nothing."

"They don't call you The Great Ninja Yuffie at all."

Sora and Yuffie turned to see Squall moving towards them. He nodded to Sora before turning to Yuffie.

"Come on. Aerith and I need to talk to you."

"Yeah...and?" Yuffie smirked, placing a hand on her hip and raising her eyebrows. Squall let out a low growl under his breath.

"So, you're going to follow me." He told her firmly. She shook her head and backed away from him.

"_Or_ I'll continue hanging out with Sora and I'll come find you guys when I feel like it."

"Yuffie!"

"Squallie!"

"Leon!" He growled. Yuffie stuck out her tongue, before flipping backwards. Sora watched the two awkwardly. He didn't really feel like getting dragged in the middle of this fight.

"Whatever. The point is - I'm not some little girl that's just going to come whenever you call. I promised Sora I'd hang out with him today and that's what I'm going to do, ya hear?" She scowled, hands on hips and mouth turned up in a small smirk.

"Actually, Yuffie." Sora squeaked. "I think that's enough flipping for one day. I'm going to go see what Donald and Goofy are up to. Catch ya later." He waved wildly as he sped away, leaping boxes and rushing off towards the second district. Yuffie sighed loudly.

"Gawds, Squall you're such a jerk. Think Sora nearly pissed himself after that whole 'call-me-by-my-real-name-and-I'll-gut-you' roar. Jeeez." She teased. She stretched her arms up and yawned.

"Good. At least now that he's gone you can come with me. Aerith has something important to talk to you about."

"Fine." She shrugged. "I'm coming."

He nodded, turning towards the cafe. She giggled softly from behind him. He froze as he felt hands on his shoulders and the next thing he knew she was leaping over his head and sprinting down the steps towards the third district.

"NOT!" She laughed.

"Yuffie!" He bellowed as he tore after her. She reached for the handle and threw herself into the next district. Heartless sprouted from the ground, but she ignored them for the most part, only stopping every now and again to wildly throw a ninja star behind her.

"Catch me if you can, Squall!" She giggled. She could hear a loud grunt behind her, letting her know that Squall was nearby. She chanced a glance behind her, delighted to see a slightly out of breath Squall Leonhart still chasing her. She laughed wickedly, turning back to face her path when - "OOF!"

She fell back, a Large Body blocking her path. It turned to her slowly.

"Yuffie!" Squall called again, this time with less anger, more...well not concern, but maybe something similar? He rushed to her side, grabbed her arm in his hand and hauled her upright. "Get back." He demanded. She narrowed her eyes and pulled out of his grip.

"Fat chance, jerkface." She bent her knees, and held her shuriken tight in her hand. "This is my fight."

She heard the familiar clunk of his gunblade as he steadied himself beside her. She smiled softly, before letting out a loud "Hyah!" as she leapt towards the fat beast. In a fury she delivered hit after hit towards the heartless. She could sense Squall nearby, slicing through the creature. She jumped onto the Fat Body's shoulders and shoved her shuriken right into the small of its back, then she jumped off and touched down neatly. She chuckled as she turned back, but instead of seeing a pile of munny and heartless goo, like she had hoped, she found herself staring into the bright yellow eyes of an overly large heartless that was running towards her at full speed. She screamed and fell backwards, raising an arm in front of her to shield her face as she awaited certain doom.

Certain doom that never came.

"Dammit Yuffie!" Yuffie opened her eyes to see Squall standing in front of her, stopping the heartless in its path with his gunblade. "Get up!" Yuffie nodded and scrambled upright. Squall grunted as the Fat Body pushed harder against his blade. "Attack it from behind!"

Yuffie nodded, though he didn't see, and rushed forward. Using Squall as leverage, she leapt from his shoulders onto the back of the Heartless once again. This time instead of just well placed shuriken, she rammed several into its back at once. The Heartless let out a loud groan before dissolving into nothing, leaving behind a few scattered pieces of munny, which Yuffie scooped up greedily.

"Ooo! Looks like we'll be eating good tonight, Squall!"

"Leon." He corrected automatically as he moved towards her. She smiled at him.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." She said warmly as she reached for his hand. He took a step backwards, but she latched on tight. Gently she opened his palm and dropped a few of the golden coins into it. He looked at her suspiciously. "Don't worry, _Leon_. I'm not going soft. You helped me out back there though.." she eyed the ground nervously for a moment. "...Thanks."

He kept his gaze on her for a few minutes, convinced that she was just playing another trick, but then she grinned up at him and her smile was sincere and so he simply nodded.

"Welcome." He mumbled. Her smile widened.

"Anyway, I'm headed back to the hotel. Catch ya later."

"Wait." She turned back to see him staring at her.

"Something wrong?"

"You're supposed to come back to the cafe with me." He said, starting to get irritated again. She waggled her fingers at him as she stuck out her tongue.

"And I toldja I didn't _feel _like it. Now I'm going back to the hotel, _Mistah Leon_. I'll come find you and Aerith later." She turned to leave when suddenly she was yanked backwards. She screamed in anger as she was roughly lifted up and flipped over Squall's shoulder.

"And I said that Aerith would like a word with you. Now. You might be sixteen, Yuffie." He told her as he headed towards the first district doors, gunblade at his side (just in case). "But you've got a lot to learn."

"Hmph."

---

A/N: wow...this is long. It's been awhile since I've written anything over 2000 words. Feels good.

I'm not making any promises on this story. So don't get attached. I have a tendency to start stuff and never finish. Especially when it comes to fanfic. Although this is probably the first KH fic where it actually has some semblance of a plot. And I'm enjoying writing it so far..So...we can hope that this will actually get finished.

Another Squffie. Why? Because I love it that's why. I don't really want it to be sappy, though. I want it to be lighter and more in character (especially with Squall). So don't expect lots of fluff. (At least not for a while...heehee).


	2. Chapter 2

Yost 5

**Chapter Two**

"NO!"

"Yuffie, would you please _calm down_?" Aerith half-asked, half-demanded. Yuffie, however, didn't seem to care what Aerith wanted, she was much more content pounding her fists on the table and scowling darkly at both of them.

"Don't tell me what to do! I'm sixteen and you're not my mother or my sister and you can go to hell for all I care! I _refuse_ to sleep in that stuffy room, with..._him_." She eyed him loathingly. Squall merely grunted and closed his eyes. Obviously, he was none to happy with the arrangements either.

"Oh Yuffie, you're being ridiculous. Yes, you're sixteen...and it's about time you started acting it. Instead of throwing temper tantrums like a two year old." Aerith told her firmly. Yuffie retaliated by sticking out her tongue.

"Knock it off, brat." Squall chimed in. Yuffie responded by kicking him in the shin underneath the table. He let out a strangled yell, and then lunged for the small ninja across the table.

"Leon!" Aerith reprimanded, throwing herself in the way and blocking him from Yuffie. "Control yourself!"

"_Whatever_!" Squall seethed, pushing out of his seat. "Do whatever you want Aerith, I'm not gonna sit here and listen to her whine anymore. I'm not a goddamned babysitter."

"Yeah, you're more of a baby." Yuffie yelled. Squall whirled back, fire in his eyes. She bared her teeth at him, just _begging _to be slapped, but he restrained himself. With another snarl, he turned and stalked off.

"Oh Yuffie..." Aerith was looking at her, green eyes wide and shoulders shaking. "Why do you have to do that? I hate when you rile him up like that. He's absolutely awful when he's mad."

"He's worse drunk." Yuffie muttered under her breath. Aerith heard, but chose not to comment. Both of them knew that Leon was a mean drunk. He'd never hit them (Cid would have killed him), but he'd yell and swear and make meaningless threats that he didn't really mean and they knew he didn't mean, because the next minute he'd start bawling about how much he loved them and it was so ridiculously sappy that Yuffie nearly gagged and reminded herself once again how badly she needed to hide the rum.

"The point is...He cares about you. And so do I. And that's why we've decided that you're going to have to stay with him. You've been...uhh..."

"I've been what?" Yuffie instigated, but Aerith couldn't bring herself to say it. "Strange?"

"No!" Aerith shook her head. "Actually..." She eyed the ground nervously as delicate hands toyed with her dress. "Its me."

"Y...You?" Yuffie narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Yes. Me." Aerith nodded, smiling sadly. "You see...Lately I just...I've been feeling _suffocated_. I mean, you're a great roommate and all Yuffie, but...its been almost close to ten years that I've had to share a bed with you and... I'd just like a break is all. Its not like you even have to stay with him permanently- just until I can catch my breath. I feel like I haven't had a night to myself in forever. You can understand that, right?" Liar. Aerith cringed inwardly. She hadn't lied to Yuffie in years.

Yuffie studied her. Though her story sounded reasonable, there was something in Aerith's eyes that bugged her. Some emotion, some hidden thoughts. Pity? Guilt?

Yuffie sighed.

Aerith was her friend; practically a sister...and Yuffie _had_ been like a leech for the past years. Maybe Aerith really _did _need a break.

Maybe Yuffie did too.

"All right." She threw her hands up in defeat. "You win. I'll stay with ol' Scarhead in his smelly room. I'll sleep on the cot and freeze to death under too thin blankets, but at least you'll get some peace, right?"

Aerith beamed as she leapt across the table to wrap Yuffie in a bear hug.

"Oh! This is so great, Yuffie! Now you'll be safe and - " She stopped herself and laughed nervously. "Err...I mean. Well, _fine_ - you _will_ be safe, but I'll finally get some time to myself and maybe you two will learn to cooperate." The more she talked about the new arrangements the happier she became. Yuffie would be safe and she'd get some peace and maybe Squall would learn how to deal with the teenager better.

"I doubt that." Yuffie said, shifting in Aerith's arms, trying to gently remove herself from the flower girl's death grip. "But whatever floats your boat."

"Oh Yuffie." Aerith giggled. "This will all work out great. Trust me."

Yuffie sighed inwardly.

"Sure."

---

"It..._smells_." Yuffie backed up a few inches and pinched her nose; he did not look amused.

"Yeah...it smells _fine_. In any case, get used to it. This is your new home for the time being. You might as well accept it now." He turned from her and moved towards a large chest of drawers. After rifling around for a little while, he pulled out a thick, gray blanket and a rather lumpy looking pillow. Yuffie sighed and threw herself onto his bed. His eyes narrowed. "Not on your life, brat."

"Come on, _Leon_. I'm used to sleeping in big, comfy beds. You're all fighter-ish. It would be less painful for _you_ to sleep on that smelly thing. PLEEEASE?" She pouted her lips and widened her eyes to a painful puppy-dog size. He looked at her skeptically.

"You've got to be kidding. Did you really think that demented hamster-face would work on me - or anyone else for that matter?" He asked with a mocking laugh. She growled and flung a pillow at him grumpily.

"You're such a jerk, Squall." She huffed. His eyes grew serious.

"Leon."

"I know. I know." She stood up from the bed and grabbed the blanket and pillow from his hands.

"If you know. Then why do you still insist on calling me..._ that_?"

"I dunno." She said, as she moved about the small cot, placing her hands and pushing down, testing to see if it could hold her. "Just like to is all."

"Because you like making an ass out of me. That's why." He growled. She turned to him and grinned.

"Maybe a little. But can you blame me?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She ran a hand through her hair and spun on her heel.

"You're always such a jerk to me. I guess its kind of like payback." She moved around the room, studying the walls, the pictures, the wooden floors..._Anything_ that wasn't him. _Leave it be, _she told him in her head as her cheeks flushed red, _accept it. Don't push for more..._

He watched her silently. She had a finger near her lips and she refused to glance his way. Was she hiding something?

He shook his head. This was Yuffie. Yuffie the ninja-brat. She didn't keep secrets; she climbed the gizmo tower and screamed them to the world.

"I'm only a jerk, because you can't grow up." He said harshly. She whirled back to him, face red, but with anger instead of...of...

_THERE IS NOTHING MORE_, she yelled at herself.

"I hate you so much you big fat...ASS. You - you... ARGH! Squall Leonhart!" She screamed at him. He scowled, but let it go. Rising to her taunts always proved to be foolish on his part.

"Whatever." He monotoned. He slipped into his bed and turned to face the wall, completely ignoring Yuffie's death glare.

"ARGH!" Yuffie roared as she pounded a fist against the table, which resulted in a painfully throbbing ninja-fist. Yuffie whimpered and held her hand, mentally beating herself up for acting so...so bratty.

She whimpered a little as she crawled into her cot. It groaned under her weight, but she didn't fall through and that was enough. She bit her lip to hold back tears. She refused to cry in front of Squall. She'd cried herself to sleep with Aerith before, but that was different. Aerith understood the sadness and the misery and that Yuffie just needed to be left alone to cry it out. But Squall.

Yuffie glared at his back. Why did he have to be so mean? Why did he have to act like some emotionless, unfeeling alien? He must have had some sadness too, right? Why else would he be such an unattached jerk?

At that moment Yuffie resolved to find out what Squall was hiding. She'd known him since she was very small, but her memories of the days before Traverse Town were fuzzy. She could remember bits and pieces of those times, but not enough to figure out Squall's darkness.

Darkness.

It was nearing midnight. Yuffie shivered.

'_Yuffie_...'

"Go away...go away..." She mumbled under her breath. But the voice was there, same as always. She hated staying up this late. He always came around midnight, when Traverse Town was its darkest and the Heartless were their strongest and she had nothing but paper thin walls and a man who hated her to save her scrawny ninja-ass.

'_Yuffie...'_

She whimpered as she pulled her pillow over her head.

Maybe before she went looking for Squall's darkness.

'_Yuf...fie...'_

She should learn to face her own.

---

A/N: Whew...'nother chapter down. Looks like something's up with ol' Yuf. Guess you'll have to wait and see though. Hee.


End file.
